Fly-half Ian Madigan said fans should not be concerned that Bristol Rugby have lost all four of their pre-season games.

New head coach Pat Lam has certainly tested themselves against some of the best in the game, take on Aviva Premiership sides Harlequins and Bath, before taking on Pro12 champions Scarlets and Lam’s former club Connacht.

Bristol came close, and were very narrowly beaten by Bath, 34-31, and Scarlets, 33-26, going down to a last minute try to the Welsh region.

Talking on BBC Radio Bristol last night, Madigan said: “I think if we had gone out with game plans to win each game, and play a conservative style of rugby then yes, it might be of concern.

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Tom Varndell of Bristol Rugby is tackled by Tom McCartney of Connacht Rugby

“But what we have done is go out, and close to 60 players have been given a chance to perform in the four games, and we have tried to learn all of Pat’s systems in a very short space of time and we are not ditching stuff and pushing things to the side which we have not been able to execute in this first games .

“We know it is a long term plan with Pat and I think playing in the Championship will give us more time to grow our game.

“Whereas if we had Leicester first up this week then maybe it would be cause for concern because we know we are far from the finished product at the moment.

“But at the same time if you compare where we were at the start of pre-season to where we have come to, we have made some huge strides and I think what is important for us is we keep growing week-on-week and I have no doubt we will have something very special.”